GRC/GRC West Week 3 Football Power Poll

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

Sponsored by

Week 3 of high school football has been completed. While GRC teams started playing conference games in Week 1, the GRC West kicked off conference play this week.

GRC (11-Man)

With nine teams in the conference, every week will feature four conference games and one non-conference game.  All but Brookfield played a conference game this week.  Here are the results for Week 3.

#1 Brookfield 62 Highland 0

Brookfield played a non-conference game this week, but it was a familiar opponent when they played their former CCC opponent, Highland.  Brookfield has won the last three games vs Highland and 15 out of 16 since 2010.  

#3 South Harrison 38 #2 Marceline 37 (OT)

South Harrison defeats Marceline in a matchup of teams that entered the game 2-0.  South Harrison built a 30-16 lead before Marceline came back to tie the game to send it into overtime.  After Marceline took a 37-30 lead in overtime, South Harrison scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion to win the game.

#4 Milan 27 #8 Maysville 0

Milan and Maysville usually play close games. This one was close at halftime, with Milan leading 7-0 before pulling away to win 27-0.  Milan has won 10 straight games over the Wolverines since 2017.

#7 Gallatin 34 #5 Polo 12

Gallatin won at Polo for the first time since 2018.  The home team in this series has been 7-2 since 2016.

#9 Putnam County 43 #6 Trenton 28

Putnam County defeats Trenton for the first time since 2019 and the first time in Trenton since joining the GRC.

Power Poll

Next Week's Schedule

#7 Polo at #1 Brookfield

Scotland County at #2 South Harrison

#3 Marceline at #4 Milan

#8 Trenton at #5 Gallatin

#9 Maysville at #6 Putnam County

GRC West (8-Man)

The GRC West started conference play this week.  Here are the results for Week 3:

Scores

#1 Worth County 64 #4 North Andrew 6

Worth County defeated North Andrew for the second straight year and is 6-5 vs. the Cardinals since 2016.  They are also 4-1 vs. North Andrew at home since 2016.

#2 Albany 42 #3 St. Joseph Christian 20

Albany wins their 4th straight over St. Joseph Christian.

#7 King City 48 #5 Stanberry 32

King City defeated Stanberry for the second straight game.  They have won their last three games at Stanberry.  The road team has won the last five games in this series.

#8 Princeton 66 #6 Pattonsburg 28

Princeton is now 2-0 vs. Pattonsburg since moving to 8-man.

Power Poll

Next Week's Schedule

#2 Albany at #1 Worth County

#3 St. Joseph Christian at #4 North Andrew

#5 King City at #6 Princeton

#7 Stanberry at #8 Pattonsburg

Coach O'Brien captures first career win as Princeton knocks off Pattonsburg 66-28

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

Sponsored by

Louis "Bubba" O'Brien took over as head coach of the Princeton Tigers this season when long-time head coach Nathan Powell retired. Unfortunately, the Tigers faced state-ranked teams in their first two weeks, falling to #5 South Holt in Week 1 and #2 Platte Valley in Week 2.

This week, Princeton faced Pattonsburg, who also entered the game at 0-2. However, both of the Panthers' games were within one score, and they came into the game averaging 63 points.  Pattonsburg opened the game on offense, and it looked like it would be another high-scoring game for them.  Quarterback Camden Griffith found Landon Preston for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.  After a Griffith run for the conversion, Pattonsburg was up 8-0 with 11:51 left in the first quarter. Princeton would answer when Clay Evans connected with Mitchell Walker on a catch and run for a 24-yard touchdown reception.  The conversion failed, so Pattonsburg remained in the lead at 8-6 with 10:37 left in the 1st.

Cooper Boxley would intercept Griffith on Pattonsburg's next possession.  Princeton would score again on a Clay Evans 16-yard touchdown run.  The possession was helped by a Panther offside on a Tiger 4th and 3 from the Pattonsburg 30-yard line.  Alex Young intercepted the conversion, but Princeton was now leading 12-8 with 7:05 left in the 1st.

After Pattonsburg turned it over on downs, Mitchell Walker scored a 44-yard touchdown run on the first play for Princeton.  Princeton's conversion failed again, but Princeton extended the lead to 18-8 with 5:36 left in the 1st.  Pattonsburg would answer when Griffith connected with Gavin Humphrey on a 33-yard touchdown with 1:58 left in the 1st.  After the failed conversion, the lead was 18-14 in favor of Princeton, which stood at the end of the quarter.

Princeton struck first in the 2nd quarter when Evans hit a wide-open Kash Holt on the quarter's first play.  The 20-yard touchdown catch with 11:55 left in the half gave the Tigers a 24-14 lead.  Griffith found Preston again from 14 yards with 6:20 left in the half.  Preston completed the "octopus" by catching a Griffith pass for two points to cut the Princeton lead to 24-22.

But that is as close as the Panthers would get.  With 4:25 left, Evans found another wide-open Tiger when Chanse Glenn scored from 20 yards.  Walker ran in the conversion.  Then Walker added a 46-yard touchdown with 2:10 left in the half.  The defense also stopped Pattonsburg with a Michael Parsons interception with a minute left in the half and a sack to take a 38-22 lead at the break.

Both Holt and Glenn were wide open, with no Panther defenders close to them. Coach O'Brien said that the strong running game helped set those plays up. "They were both play-action plays.  We were having so much success running that dive at them.  The run game opened up those two plays."

The third quarter belonged to Mitchell Walker.  The Tiger freshman scored three touchdowns.  He scored his first touchdown from two yards on a direct snap with 5:57 left.  He added runs of 20 yards and 58 yards to end the quarter, with the Tigers leading 58-22.

Coach O'Brien talked about Walker's performance: "For a freshman, he is playing way above his mentality and how he plays physically. We are blessed to have a guy like that for four more years. The biggest thing with him is just keeping him healthy, keeping him fresh, not overusing him, not wearing him out.  He is a diverse player for such a young age."

Pattonsburg scored their final touchdown with 10:33 left in the game when Griffith found Preston from 22 yards to cut the deficit to 58-22, but Walker would score his seventh touchdown of the game with 8:03 left when he converted a 4th and 1 from the 30-yard line and outran Panther defenders.  After Evans connected with Ethan Rhoades on the conversion, the Tigers led 66-28, where the game ended.

Coach O'Brien recorded his first win as a varsity head coach. Coach O'Brien said he was "nervous all week trying to get ready " regarding his first win.  "I knew we were capable of competing with this team and just making sure our guys believed that.  I knew it was going to be a tough game.  The first half was like I thought.  Just fast-paced, them scoring and us trying to maintain the clock.  As the game went on, we wore on them, like we got worn the last two weeks.  Just crazy how we reversed that role."

Princeton held Pattonsburg to 35 points below its season average. Coach O'Brien talked about how they attacked Pattonsburg on defense. "The big thing that hurt them was not having number three [Wyatt Maize].  Number 11 [Landon Preston] was their main guy, so we put our best cover guy on him.  We thought if we could just get pressure on him, keep the quarterback in the pocket, and make him make throws, then we would have a chance at stopping them.  Most of his big plays in the previous two games came from him getting outside or getting free and finding someone deep.  It worked out.  We tried to keep him in front and not let him loose."

Princeton is 1-2 and 1-0 in the GRC West.  They will host King City next week.  King City is coming off of a win over Stanberry.

Pattonsburg is 0-3 and 0-1 in the GRC West.  They will host Stanberry next week.

GRC/GRC West Week 2 Football Power Poll

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

Sponsored by

Week 2 of high school football is in the books. Most of the GRC teams have played two conference games. GRC West schools have finished non-conference games against Highway 275 Conference opponents and will begin conference play next week.

GRC (11-Man)

With nine teams in the conference, every week will feature four conference games and one non-conference game.  All but Milan played a conference game this week.  Here are the results for Week 2.

#1 Brookfield 46 #8 Maysville 0

Brookfield moves to 2-0 with a shutout of Maysville, which falls to 0-2.  MSHSAA showed no recent matchups in the series between these two schools.

#2 Marceline 41 #6 Gallatin 12

Marceline moves to 2-0, and Gallatin falls to 1-1.  Since 2018, Marceline is 3-0 vs. Gallatin, including a win over the Bulldogs last season and a 29-0 win in the 2018 District Semifinals.

#7 Polo 35 #3 Trenton 14

Polo is 1-1, and Trenton falls to 0-2.  Polo's win over Trenton is their first since 2021 and their first at home since 2020.  Polo is 3-6 vs. Trenton since 2016.

#4 South Harrison 41 #9 Putnam County 7

South Harrison is 2-0 for the first time since 2019.  Putnam County drops to 0-2.  South Harrison defeats Putnam County for the 2nd straight year and is 8-3 vs the Midgets since 2016. You can read more about this game here.

#5 Milan 47 North Platte 24

Milan is 1-1 and avenges a loss to North Platte, who defeated them in the Class 1 State Semifinals last season. 

Power Poll

Next Week's Schedule

#1 Brookfield at Highland

#3 South Harrison at #2 Marceline

#4 Milan at #8 Maysville

#7 Gallatin at #5 Polo

#9 Putnam County at #6 Trenton

GRC West (8-Man)

All 8 teams in the GRC West were at home against Highway 275 teams in Week 2.  Each game was a rematch of last year's Week 2 games.  Four of the eight GRC West teams were victorious.

Every game had the same outcome as last year except for the Rock Port-Stanberry game, in which Rock Port came out victorious over Stanberry this season. Rock Port's win over Stanberry was the first since they joined 8-man in 2012.  Stanberry was previously 10-0 vs. Rock Port in 8-man football.

Scores

#1 Worth County 44 Mound City 14

#2 Albany 58 East Atchison 48

#3 St. Joseph Christian 54 Stewartsville-Osborn 0

Rock Port 44 #4 Stanberry 22

South Holt 73 #5 Pattonsburg 66

#6 North Andrew 56 DeKalb 0

Nodaway Valley 38 #7 King City 20

Platte Valley 74 #8 Princeton 34

Power Poll

Next Week's Schedule

#4 North Andrew at #1 Worth County

#2 Albany at #3 St. Joseph Christian

#7 King City at #5 Stanberry

#6 Pattonsburg at #8 Princeton

South Harrison moves to 2-0 with a big win over Putnam County

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

Sponsored by

The South Harrison Bulldogs were coming off a big win over Milan in Week 1, which earned them the Green Hills Insurance LLC Team of the Week honors.  They were attempting to go 2-0 for the first time since 2019 with a trip to Putnam County.

The Bulldogs were able to control the game from the opening kickoff to knockoff the Midgets 41-7.  South Harrison was led by Crae Coffey, who scored three touchdowns.  The Bulldogs were close to midfield on the opening drive, facing 4th and 8.  They were able to convert, which led to Coffey's first touchdown, a seven-yard run with 5:34 left in the 1st.  Jett Cornett added the PAT to put South Harrison up 7-0.   Putnam County had to punt on their opening drive, and the score was 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Regarding the early 4th down, South Harrison coach Chris Schoning said, "I thought tonight things didn't go our way, and we were digging ourselves a hole.  We were able to get ourselves out of that hole.  That's the one thing with these guys; they don't give up.  They stay with the plays. They run the plays.  They do a pretty good job."  

The Bulldogs scored again with just over 10 minutes left.  They drove to the one-yard line, but a false start penalty pushed them back to the six.  That is when Brysan Quinley found Cooper Johnson in the end zone.  Another Cornett PAT made in 14-0.  Both teams turned it over on downs before Putnam had to punt again with 2:39 left in the half.  Coffey took advantage of this with another touchdown with 14.0 seconds left in the half.  A Cornett PAT made it 21-0.  That was the score at halftime, but not before South Harrison had one last attempt.  Putnam County fumbled with 0.6 seconds left at midfield.  A successful pass attempt yielded some yards but not enough for a score.

The Midgets got on the board in the third quarter when Gideon Jones kept it for a quarterback keeper from the one-inch line.  Matthew Blanchard added a PAT to cut the South Harrison lead to 21-7.  South Harrison then turned it over on downs, and it looked like we might have a ballgame, but Putnam went 3 and out.  The quarter ended with South Harrison leading 21-7.

Crae Coffey scored his third and final touchdown with 10:19 left in the game.  South Harrison extended their lead to 28-7 after a Cornett PAT.  Schoning talked about Coffey after the game.  He said, "he gets those tough yards for us. That kid is very tough to tackle.  He is 6' 1" and weighs 205.  He keeps his feet moving.  If it's 3rd and 2, 4th and 1, that's the guy we go to.  And everyone in the conference is going to know it, but we're still going to do it.  He's probably still going to get those yards.  Having that in your back pocket when you need those tough yards, it's awesome having a kid like that."

Putnam County was putting together a long drive on their next possession.  They had the ball at the Bulldogs 10-yard line, but Quinley was intercepted by Mason Galloway, who returned the ball to the Midget 19-yard line.  Galloway ran the ball in from the 5-yard line a few plays later.  Cornett connected again on the PAT to make it 35-7 with 5:18 left in the game.

Schoning said that Galloway "has been a huge player for us this year.  He got a little playing time last year as a sophomore.  I told him this summer, Mason, you are going to have to step up for us this year because Crae Coffey can't do it all by himself.  That was a huge stop.  They had a ton of momentum.  He's been playing great defense for us and been giving us great offense, too."

South Harrison would score their last touchdown on the next Putnam County possession when Cornett intercepted Quinley and returned it to the end zone for a pick-six.  This time, Jones blocked Cornett's PAT.  The final score was South Harrison 41, Putnam County 7.

After the game, Schoning acknowledged Putnam County's efforts, saying, "Putnam County put up a good fight. We had to earn everything we got tonight. We didn't execute nearly as well as we did against Milan."  The players also recognized the need for better execution in their post-game discussion.  Schoning added, "I am glad my team is seeing that. I am having a lot of leaders step up, and that is awesome." 

South Harrison's 2-0 record will be on the line next week when they travel on the road to face another 2-0 team at Marceline.  Marceline is ranked #5 in Class 1.  

Schoning said, "It's awesome to win.  Everyone loves to win.  I think with this group, they know we have a lot we can fix, and the ceiling is much higher for us right now.  We just got to get to practice next week and execute.  We had an okay week of practices last week, and that showed tonight.  We preach that.  We are going to practice how we play.  That's going to be our challenge next week.  We played how we practiced last week.  Let's fix that next week and have a good week of practice."

Putnam County is 0-2 and will travel to Trenton next week.  Trenton is coming off a loss to Polo and is also 0-2.

GRC/GRC West Week 1 Football Power Poll

by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com

Sponsored by

Week 1 of high school football is over. Each GRC and GRC West team has played a game, so it is time for the first Power Poll for each conference. I am using the coaches' poll as the starting point for the poll and will adjust it weekly based on the results.

GRC (11-Man)

With nine teams in the conference, every week will feature four conference games and one non-conference game.  All but Polo played a conference game this week.  Here are the results for Week 1.

#3 Brookfield 35 #1 Trenton 14

Brookfield won their inaugural GRC game over Trenton.  It was the 5th straight year that Brookfield and Trenton opened up against each other, but it is the first time they have been conference opponents.  Brookfield snapped a three-game losing streak against Trenton, avenging a 36-18 loss from last season.  

#6 South Harrison 36 #2 Milan 29

South Harrison knocked off the defending conference champions and avenged a 40-0 loss from last season.  It is South Harrison's first win over Milan since 2020.  This series has been dominated by the home team.  Since Milan joined the GRC, the home team has been 9-1, with Milan's win in 2022 at South Harrison being the only win by the road team.

#3 Marceline 33 #7 Putnam County 7

Marceline won their first GRC game over Putnam County.  It was the first meeting between these two teams since 2015.  Since 2010 (as far back as MSHSAA goes), Marceline is 6-0 vs. Putnam County.

#9 Gallatin 30 #7 Maysville 27

In the most competitive game of the night, Gallatin held on to defeat Maysville.  This was Gallatin's eighth consecutive win over Maysville, but the three-point win is the closest game in the winning streak.  The game featured a matchup of two coaches in their first career games as head coach.  You can read more about this game here.

West Platte 35 #5 Polo 26

Polo opened against West Platte for the third consecutive season.  West Platte ended a two-game losing streak with the win over Polo.  

Power Poll

GRC West (8-Man)

All 8 teams in the GRC West were on the road against Highway 275 teams in Week 1.  Each of the games was a rematch of last year's season openers.  Three of the eight GRC West teams were victorious.

Every game had the same outcome as last year except for the Rock Port-Pattonsburg game, in which Rock Port came out victorious in a 2-point game. Although Platte Valley defeated Worth County for the second straight year in the regular season, Worth County has ended its season the last two years in the playoffs. Stanberry had to come from behind in their victory, but the win was their ninth consecutive over Mound City.

Scores

Platte Valley 12 #1 Worth County 6

#2 Albany 66 Stewartsville-Osborn 6

#3 St. Joseph Christian 68 DeKalb 8

#4 Stanberry 36 Mound City 28

Nodaway Valley 42 #5 North Andrew 16

East Atchison 58 #6 King City 24

Rock Port 62 #7 Pattonsburg 60

South Holt 69 #8 Princeton 32

Power Poll